Kidnapped heroes
by Full-on-nerd
Summary: Iron Man, Captain America, Hellboy, Spider-Man, Alex Rider and Batman. All are kidnapped. Why? How will they escape, if at all? Who wants them? Why is Alex Rider mixed up in all these heroes' businesses? K-Unit involved :) Please read, the story's better than the summary.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, I'll just explain a few things here before I start. These characters DO NOT belong to me; they all belong to their owners (Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Anthony Horowitz). I don't know as much about Hellboy as I do about the rest of the characters because I can't collect any comics of him over here, but I have a couple of graphic novels, and I've watched the movies :) I apologise in advance for any mistakes I may make with the characters.**

**Spider-Man/Peter Parker: He's the movieverse Spider-Man.**

**Batman/Bruce Wayne: New 52 comic's version.**

**Iron Man/Tony Stark: Earth 616 (Mainstream universe) version. (Except Jarvis is film JARVIS, the AI, not Edwin Jarvis)**

**Captain America/Steve Rogers: Earth 616 (Mainstream universe) version.**

**Hellboy: Movieverse Hellboy, as I've watched the movies WAY too many times.**

**Alex Rider: Been on all the missions from the books, and 3 more, seeing as MI6 adopted him after the death of Sabina and her parents 4 months ago. His most recent mission involved him getting shot in his right shoulder, and it's still in stitches.**

**All of the above have no choice but to reveal their identities to one another, and so I apologise for that. All of the above are, obviously, from different universes, but for this story I'm just pretending they're all a part of the same universe, and each has heard of the other, except none of them has heard of Alex Rider, obviously.**

**I'm doing this mostly from Alex's POV because I'm English and it's much easier than trying to sound American. Please point it out if I make any mistakes with the American's speech, so I can go back and edit!**

**I also apologise for the ridiculously long AN. Enjoy, and PLEASE REVIEW!**

Alex winced as he stood up much too fast from the park bench, the movement pulling on his stitches. He was currently still in America, taking care of the jobs MI6 needed done there. The cold day mocked him as he had made the mistake of trusting the weather forecast and worn a light t-shirt.

He spied an elderly couple giving him strange looks, and he realised how weird he must have looked; his last mission had left him physically wrecked. Bruises and cuts littered his already scarred body, and he cursed himself again for wearing a t-shirt.

Just as he began walking away he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Automatically, he knew who it was; MI6. He didn't know anyone else. Jack, Sabina and her parents were dead, and Alex and Tom hadn't spoken for nearly six months.

Sighing, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket. It read: **Get to a quiet area. We'll ring back in ten.** Fighting the resist to growl he reluctantly began walking back to his apartment. MI6 had allowed him to live on his own, but he must not run away or go anywhere without permission from someone at MI6.

The park he was at was about a five minute walk away from his apartment, so he took his time. He was so sick of MI6, he had basically lost the will to live. The only thing keeping him alive was the fact that he believed in what he was doing. MI6 had blackmailed him time and time again, first with Jack's VISA, then with the fact that if he didn't do as he was told they would basically leave him living on the streets. But, he truly knew that what MI6 was telling him to do was the right thing. He just didn't like the way they were telling them to do it.

Sure he had saved the world a couple of times, but MI6 had caused the death of everyone he knew. His parents, Ian, Jack, Sabina, her parents, and they had basically taken away his home and left him stranded and alone in a country completely foreign to him, except for the couple of missions he had been forced to do.

Scowling, he entered his apartment. He turned on the TV to the news and saw the faces of the Avengers. He didn't know what to think of those guys. Some random heroes just appear out of nowhere? Sounds suspicious, if you ask him. Or maybe he was just paranoid about things like this. After all, he _was_ a spy.

His phone rang, and he jumped, pulled out of his thoughts.

"What?" he spat down the phone.

"We have a mission for you, Agent Rider." It was Mrs. Jones. He scowled; he hated being called an agent.

"Does it involve going back home?" he asked almost half-heartedly.

"No. I trust you have heard of the group the Avengers?" Alex's heart skipped a beat. Surely they wouldn't ask him to-?

"Yes. I have. Why?"

"We don't trust them."

"Of course you don't. What do you want me to do?"

"We need you to tail Mr Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man."

"Why him?"

"As he's a hero, genius, billionaire, playboy _and _philanthropist, he's the most beloved and well known out of the group. That'll mean, if you get caught following him around, it wouldn't seem nearly as suspicious as if you were following Captain America."

Alex inwardly groaned. Why did _he_ always get the worst jobs? Surely Tony Stark would have bodyguards of some description, and no matter what way you looked at it, a teenage boy following a grown man, famous or not, everywhere would _always_ look suspicious.

"Fine. What's my character like?"

"Your name is Ben Scott, you're American and you're a huge fan of Iron Man. Your outfit is an Iron Man t-shirt and specially designed Iron Man gloves. Meet Crawley in the park you were just at in half an hour to get them."

Alex sighed. So he would look suspicious _and_ embarrassing. "What do you mean by 'specially designed'?"

"Smithers designed the gloves to be bulletproof, fire retardant, they can electrocute someone if you touch them with you all five fingers and if you stick out your thumb and baby finger they'll self-destruct, giving you a 20 second escape time. They also contain a tracking device, but you'll have your watch for that."

Alex couldn't help smiling. Those gloves were cool.

"The t-shirt is pretty much normal, except it's glow in the dark."

"Ok. Where will I see Tony Stark?"

"Crawley will explain that. Good luck, Alex." And she hung up. Alex looked at the clock. He had 25 minutes until he had to meet Crawley so he made himself some lunch.

***********Captain America POV*************

"Tony, stop it." Cap sighed as his friend offered him, for the sixteenth time, some alcohol. "I don't drink. There's no point; I can't get drunk." Tony grinned at the man.

"Aww, you're no fun!" he shouted, giving his friend a playful punch on the shoulder. He was currently on his fourth martini, and Cap couldn't tell if he was drunk or just being stupid.

He decided it was the latter. Suddenly, JARVIS's English accent came from above.

"Sir, you have a meeting at Oscorp in thirty-five minutes. I would advise you to get ready, or you will be late."

"Fashionably late, JARVIS!" Tony 'corrected' his AI.

"Tony, I'm coming, too. I wanna check out all the stuff that's been going on in there the past few weeks. That Spider-Man guy, particularly."

Tony frowned, but nodded.

*********Peter Parker POV**********

Peter could have screamed. He didn't know what to do; Gwen kept calling him and telling him to go to Oscorp to meet her, but he was reminded of the promise he had made her father on the rooftop of said building.

On the one hand, he had promised someone something on their deathbed, but on the other hand, Captain Stacy had told him to keep Gwen safe. No one knew he was Spider-Man, except the Lizard, and Gwen, so if he was Peter Parker, they should, probably, both be safe. He smiled, proud of his logic, and dialled her number.

"Hello?" he smiled again at her voice.

"Hey, it's Pete. So you wanted to meet? When?"

**********Alex Rider POV********

Crawley was early, as usual. He wore his black trench coat and looked highly suspicious. He stood there, right next to the bench Alex had recently sat on. He took no notice of the fact MI6 knew he had been here; he had noticed the two men following him since he had left his apartment.

"Alex," Crawley smiled. "Good to see you again. Now, you're in a hurry, so-"

"Am I?"

Crawley looked back up at him from fiddling with his briefcase. "Yes." He said bluntly. "So, I'll just get straight to it. Here's your shirt," he handed Alex the Iron Man t-shirt, which he put on over his long sleeved top, wincing as he did so. "And here're your gloves." He handed Alex gloves that were, Alex cringed, leather-looking replicas of Iron Man's own red and gold metal gloves.

"You are to go to Oscorp, where Mr Stark is due for a meeting. If you see him arrive, follow him. If not, just wait outside. You'll then follow him everywhere until told not to. Understood?"

Alex nodded glumly. "Then get to it, then. His meeting's in 5 minutes." Crawley turned around and walked over to the park bench and sitting behind it was a bike. Unfortunately, it was changed to match Alex's character, with red and gold all over it and an Iron Man face plate in the middle of the handlebars.

He looked despairingly up at Crawley, who smirked a little. "Time for you to go."

"Bye, then." Alex said sarcastically. He reluctantly got on the bike and rode off to where he knew Oscorp was.

********Bruce Wayne POV*************

It was dark. So dark he thought he had his eyes shut. Oh wait, he did. He opened them and found he was on the floor. Of a cell. Great, he thought. He sat up, trying to remember what had happened to him.

He had been fighting four muggers, and had succeeded in knocking out three of them and was engaged in combat with the fourth, who was losing badly, when everything went black. No warning, he had just felt a pain in the back of his head and passed out. Even with his cowl on, he was knocked out.

Now that he was awake, he was alone in a dingy cell. There were chains on the walls, evidently for wrists and ankles, but thankfully they were not being used.

**********Hellboy POV***********

"Abe, pass me a beer," Hellboy requested, not bothering with a 'please.' Abe complied and Hellboy gratefully gulped down the liquid before an alarm erupted from the ceiling.

"Dammit," Hellboy moaned. "What now?" he threw back his head and quickly finished the last of the beer before standing up and grabbing a gun.

He stepped out of the library, Abe following behind, and grabbed one of the flustered agents' shoulders. "What the hell is going on?" He shouted over the ruckus of all the people in the BPRD running around like headless chickens.

The agent simply pointed at the corridor he had come from and broke out of Hellboy's grip, running off again. Hellboy looked back at Abe, who shrugged. They headed off into the direction the agent had pointed, not knowing what they would find. They soon heard gunfire, and sped up. They found about 20 balaclava'd gunmen shooting down a sea of agents, who were fighting back as hard as they could. Three of the gunmen were on the floor, dead, but there were still 17 left. And they all had machine guns. The agents of the BPRD only had pistols with them, and the big guns were God knows where.

Hellboy looked down to see piles of dead agents on the floor, and he got angry. He snatched a pistol off of an agent and shot it at the men. It hit one in the chest, and Hellboy smiled to himself; that is, until the man got back up again. Evidently, they were wearing bullet-proof vests.

He growled. Then a grenade was thrown, except this grenade was massive. When it hit the floor a gas poured out, and it filled the entire room. Hellboy saw some of the agents being knocked out and discovered the gunmen had gas masks, before he fell unconscious, as well.

***********Alex Rider POV***********

When he finally reached Oscorp Alex was more than ten minutes late. Stark's meeting must have already started. He found a bench nearby where he could secretly watch the door.

An hour later, he witnessed a teenage boy, a bit older than himself, meet a pretty blonde girl at the door and walk out together. He saw a limousine pull up outside. Curious, he shifted a bit to see who it was. Incredibly, it was Tony Stark. Alex frowned and rolled his eyes; he was more than an hour late.

Surprisingly, he had no bodyguards, except for a muscly man in a checked shirt and jeans who stepped out behind him. The bodyguard looked around, for danger probably, and his eyes feel on Alex. Blushing slightly and looking away, he saw it was actually Captain America.

He couldn't hold in his inner fanboy any longer, and he grinned to the floor.

***********Captain America POV***********

"Tony, we are _not_ stopping for take-out, we're already over an hour late." Cap moaned.

"Correction: _I_ am late. You aren't even attending the meeting."

"Fine. We are not stopping for take-out, _you're_ already over an hour late."

"Fine. But we're getting take-out when we come back." Tony grumbled.

They arrived at Oscorp, and Tony stepped out of the limo. Cap followed and looked around for any danger. All he saw was a beat-up looking teenage kid staring at him on a bench, who immediately looked away when their eyes met. He saw the boy blush and grin. Cap smiled and followed Tony.

*************Alex Rider POV*****************

He remembered that Crawley had told him to follow Stark, and so he got up off the bench, clenching his teeth briefly as his stitches stretched. He frowned down at MI6's choice of clothing. Surely if they wanted him to sneak into Oscorp they would have chosen something less... Dumb-looking?

Now he'd look like just a weird fan of Iron Man, following him around everywhere. Sighing, he headed on into Oscorp. He was met with a burst of noise and was momentarily taken aback. From outside, it was quiet, and only a few people came in and out every so often, but inside, people were _everywhere_.

He smiled; this would be easier than he first thought. He made his way through the crowd, trying his best to blend in with all the white coats, while looking out for Stark and Rogers. Eventually he spotted Captain America's checked orange shirt going up the escalator, Stark in front.

Alex made his way over to the escalator, expertly avoiding the eye of the receptionist and security, and hopped on. He hid himself in a cluster of scientists, careful with the gloves.

Something didn't feel right. Alex turned and just caught the glint of a gun and groaned. He ran up to Captain America and Tony Stark, pushing people out of the way and ignoring their shouts at him.

"Mr Captain America, er, Sir... And err, Mr Stark, Sir," he said in a convincing American accent. He smiled when the two men turned around to face him, keeping in character. "Err, there're... Um, gunmen, down there." He pointed down the escalator, trying to keep in character of an idiotic kid, but really he was quite annoyed that some of his nervousness of talking to the heroes was real.

The two smiling men immediately frowned at each other, then looked down the foyer, then at Alex.

"Where, son?" Rogers asked.

"Down there," Alex insisted. He was worried they wouldn't believe him when they heard a scream from below. Alex would have grinned despite himself, if they weren't in this situation. Not many people got to witness Captain America and Iron Man in action. Well, really just Captain America, as Stark didn't have his suit.

Captain America looked down the escalator and ran down it. The scientists cleared a path for him, while Stark grabbed Alex. Thankfully, Stark didn't notice Alex's gasp as the man grabbed his injured arm.

"C'mere, kid, I'll getcha safe," Tony smiled at him. Alex almost didn't return it, but remembered he was supposed to be a huge Iron Man fan, so he grinned at him. Tony pulled Alex up the escalators, again with the scientists clearing a path and led him to the nearest room. It was empty. "What's your name?"

"Al- Ben. It's Ben."

"I'm Tony, as you probably know," he grinned, gestured at Alex's t-shirt. Alex inwardly sighed. He wanted to be down in the foyer fighting the gunmen, not hiding from them with a billionaire. He spoke, or _thought_, too soon, as they heard gunshots right outside the door.

Tony strode to the door and motioned for Alex to be quiet. He would have rolled his eyes if they weren't in such a situation. Suddenly, the door opened just a crack, but it wasn't Tony who had done it. A massive grenade was thrown into the room and the door slammed shut.

On impact with the floor the grenade released a gas, and the two of them were knocked out in seconds.

*******Peter Parker POV**********

Peter strode up to the large glass doors to Oscorp and found Gwen waiting for him just inside.

"Hi there," he said somewhat awkwardly.

"Hi, Pete. Fancy grabbing a bite to eat?" Peter nodded. They both walked off together, Peter noticed a teenage boy, a bit younger than himself, looking at them. He was blonde and pretty beat-up looking, but he thought nothing of it.

They headed towards the Chinese restaurant two buildings down from Oscorp and ordered their food. Neither Gwen nor Peter mentioned anything Spider-Man related; they talked about their food, movies, songs, and school, and it was going pretty well, the most they had spoken in ages, until they heard a scream.

It was quiet, but they both heard it. Not one of your dumb, stupid-teenagers-messing-around-in-public kind of scream; a proper scream, like one out of a horror movie, but more real. Full of fear.

Then they heard gunshots and Peter stood up, sent an apologetic look to Gwen, and walked out the door. He couldn't see any danger, but he could still hear random gunshots every so often. He walked down an alleyway, and changed into his costume. He then ran out and down the street. He nearly passed Oscorp, but he realised the gunshots were coming from in there.

Inside, he spotted Steve Rogers fighting three gunmen at once, with scientists running for their lives. A gunman noticed him and shot at him, but Peter dodged it, thanks to his spider-sense.

"Cap!" he called. "What in the hell is going on?" Steve looked up and shrugged before kicking a man in the gut and another in the knee.

Spidey webbed a random gunman's arms to his body and webbed his legs together. He then proceeded in webbing the man to the roof. A cluster of gunmen split apart to reveal an empty bag, and a man holding what looked like a giant grenade.

He threw it, and it exploded with gas. A sea of scientists was knocked out almost instantly, but Cap and Spider-Man had the sense to hold their breaths. They looked around for a nearby room to hide in to breath, but could not find one.

"Oh sh-" Spider-Man started before he passed out.

**************Bruce Wayne POV*************

Bruce was jolted awake when something landed roughly on his arm. He looked up to see it was a man. Thing. It was bright red and looked like some sort of devil, tail and all.

He pushed the thing onto its back and saw who it was. Who wouldn't recognise Hellboy? Bruce himself had done some research on the character, but could find nothing that would cause a visit from Batman; especially as he was with the BPRD, an agency he was familiar with. He had watched numerous news reports of the man, and was quite impressed with him.

He wondered if Hellboy could break the bars on the cell, or even the wall when he awoke, but then remembered one of his captors saying they were made mostly of adamantium and gave up that hope.

Bruce himself had been stripped of his weapons and his Batman costume, and was wearing a rather disgusting vest and trousers, both dark green. Hellboy was wearing nearly the same, except they were much bigger and he was not wearing a vest; only trousers.

His thoughts were interrupted by a man bringing them food and water. All the men he had seen so far were wearing balaclavas, so he had basically no idea who captured him. He had his suspicions of the Riddler, maybe, but could see no reason why he would take Hellboy.

The food they were given was just two slices of bread, now, and a jug of water. It had previously been only one slice of bread and a glass of water, but now Hellboy was here they had a slice each. _Lucky us_, he thought bitterly.

Bruce waited for the food to be pushed the tiny trap door at the bottom of the bars and grabbed it. He checked Hellboy over for any injuries, but he hadn't sustained any un-healable. With that thought, he saw Hellboy beginning to stir and carefully shuffled back an inch or two. He _was_ Batman, and he knew Hellboy was on his side, but he did _not_ want to be in the way of Hellboy's fist if he became angry and confused.

Though, he needn't have worried; Hellboy woke up quietly, as though he were only waking up at home. When he sat up he grunted and glared at his clothes.

"Ugh. Where are we? And who are you?" He asked while Bruce gave him his share of the food and water.

"I'm Bruce Wayne, and I don't know where we are. Maybe somewhere in Mexico; I heard people speaking Spanish. But, then again, we could be in Spain. I don't know how long I was out."

Hellboy looked at him and nodded. "I'm Hellboy."

"I know," Bruce smiled.

"How long have you been here?"

"I've been conscious for about three days, but before that I don't know." Bruce shrugged.

Hellboy nodded, then, "Why are you here, then?"

"I'm owner of Wayne Tech, and I'm a billionaire. This isn't the first time I've been kidnapped." Bruce didn't trust the man to let him know his secret. God, he'd only met him not 5 minutes ago!

They were interrupted again by shuffling and scraping coming from down the hall. Both Bruce and Hellboy stood up to look out at the noise. They saw four men walking backwards, all with balaclavas, dragging somethings. Or someones. And those someones where putting up a mighty fight.

"Let us go and _maybe_ we'll cut you some slack when we beat the cahooties outta you!" A voice hollered.

Four people, with cloth bags on their heads, came into view. Two older men and two teenagers, by the looks of it. Bruce frowned. Teenagers? Both of the men currently in the cell had some significance, being vigilantes and monster hunters, but what was the use of two teenagers?

The four people were fighting hard but could not break through the zip ties holding their wrists and ankles together.

The balaclava'd men told Bruce and Hellboy to stand against the back wall or, they pointed their guns at the teenagers, they would shoot. They reluctantly leaned against the wall while the men opened the cell doors and dragged in the men.

They each crouched down and cut off the zip ties. Then, one by one they took off the bags. The first man was revealed to be Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man. The second was Steve Rogers, or Captain America. The third and fourth were both teenagers, as Bruce had guessed, but none were recognized.

The brown haired boy's man, however stood up and gestured at the kid with his gun-tip and said, "This's little Peter Parker," he sneered mockingly. "I'll allow him to introduce himself _properly_."

He walked over to the other boy. "Awww, poor little kid, all caught up in the games of adults. Even _we_ don't know who you are. Just some kid caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. You'll be fun. We only had orders to keep the _heroes_ alive."

And with that, he turned and walked out of the cell, grabbing the remains of the unfinished food and water. He stopped after he shut the bars.

"Oh, if any of you want some food, you're gonna have to tell each other who you _really_ are, those of you who haven't."

He walked off, leaving the heroes to their thoughts.

**Wow. Longest chapter I've ever written. 14 pages on Word! If there are any errors, or the Americans sound too posh, or if there're any spelling mistakes please say!**

**Tell me what you think and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry I haven't done anything for a few days but I was busy with a CCF weekend until Sunday evening (Oh yeah I'm now a qualified fist aider) then I had the flu and if "I'm sick enough to stay home from school I'm not well enough to go on the laptop." :/**

**I've decided to add K-Unit to the story! They'll make an appearance in this chapter, guys! (They're all like back in Stormbreaker, and none of them have had any MI6 experience. It's still Wolf, Eagle, Fox and Snake.)**

**Enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW!**

*************Alex Rider's POV************

"I'm Iron Man."

"I'm Captain America."

"I'm Hellboy."

Alex sighed. It was their second day in the cell, all together, and they were all getting impatient with waiting for whoever it was with a secret identity their captors knew about to reveal it. He decided to play the Ben Scott character for as long as he could, but he had a feeling he would be found out, especially as his gadgetised gloves and t-shirt had been taken.

"Ok, ok, fine, you got me," Alex said in his convincing American accent. "I'll reveal myself to you all." He sighed for dramatic effect while his fellow cellmates stared at him. He leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I'm the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

Tony smirked and the rest rolled their eyes at him. He smiled and leaned his head up against the wall. His bullet wound had begun to hurt the day before, and was gradually getting worse, as he had no pain killers and when the men dragged him in they had held his arms above his head, stretching the wound.

"Ok. We have three choices." Cap said. Alex had already taken to calling Stark Tony, Peter Pete, Wayne Bruce and Rogers Cap. "One. We find a way to escape, but that seems nearly impossible, with adamantium coating on the walls and bars. Two. We give in and reveal our identities or, three. We starve to death."

There was silence after that. Alex didn't know whether it was Bruce or Pete with the secret identity, or if their captors had even known about himself, but he had his suspicions.

Most of the time they slept, because there was nothing better to do. They had already carefully analysed any possible escape route, but gave up. The hatch for food was too small for any of them, even Pete and Alex, even if they could get it open without the key. The bars were obviously too close together for any of them to squeeze out of, and the tiny window at the top did nothing but show them if it was day or night.

It was a rare occasion when they were all awake, and Alex noticed Pete was nervous looking. He was twisting his hand around his wrists and fidgeting on the floor. He was also sweating, Alex saw, and he wondered if he was ok.

He decided to ignore it; he was probably fine, and if he wasn't he would probably say.

He was just drifting off to sleep when Pete suddenly said, "I'm Spider-Man." They looked up at him in shock, except for Alex, who smiled slightly. His suspicions were correct. What other significant person was a teenager? Well, anyone in a mask. They had caught Alex by accident but they must've known Pete was Spider-Man.

Peter was looking uncomfortable, but relieved at the same time that he had revealed his identity.

"Well... Ok, then. Cool." Tony said, glancing at Pete, then the floor, then Pete, then the floor again.

Pete only stared at the floor, while ignoring the stares of his cellmates. Hellboy, especially, was making him the most uncomfortable. He was frowning at him, as though he was angry or irritated. They sat like that for a while, the other heroes figuring stuff out in their heads, Hellboy still sort of glaring at Pete.

"What?! Stop staring at me! Jeez, I'm only Spider-Man; I'm not the _president_, or anything." He pointedly looked at Hellboy, who slowly turned his head.

He turned it back again. "How _old_ are you?"

"17."* Pete said. "Why?"

Hellboy shook his head. "Not so bad, I guess. At least you're not, 14, or something."

Alex shifted uncomfortably when he said that. So he was the youngest person there.

They sat in silence for about an hour until Alex began to drift to sleep, but was awoken by Tony's voice.

"So... D'you reckon we'll get food then?" he asked with a growl of his stomach for good measure.

"Yes." Alex said, forgetting his American accent. "I mean, yeah, probably. There's a camera just outside in the corner, they'll most likely be here soon." Thankfully, no one visibly noticed his slip up, except Cap who narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything.

As though to prove what Alex said, there were footsteps in the corridor. Alex was glad; he was very hungry. But what came was not food. Far from it. In their hands were Alex's Iron Man gloves and his t-shirt.

"Well, _heroes_, it seems you've been lied to! _This_," he gestured to Alex. "Is no ordinary kid! We have found not only tracking devices, which have been destroyed, but electric charges in his gloves!"

Alex spared a glance at his cellmates, who were looking at him questioningly. He ignored their looks and watched as they were threatened with Alex's death to move to the back again.

"Oh, I am going to enjoy this, lemme tell 'ya." Two of the men pulled Alex to his feet with his hands behind his back. They lifted him up and attached his ankles into the shackles on the wall, then his wrists. He bit his lip hard as the movement caused agony to his shoulder, but showed no visible signs of weakness.

The man carefully held up Alex's glove and put it on. "Come on, kid, aren't you gonna beg for mercy?"

"No." He replied shortly.

The man laughed and he brought his outstretched hand down on Alex's chest.

Immediately Alex began writhing wildly and uncontrollably. Vaguely he heard shouts as the electricity coursed through his bones, and then it stopped. Everything went black, and he fell into a blissful unconsciousness.

**********Tony Stark's POV****************

Tony watched helplessly as the teenager was attached to the wall. He saw the kid bite his lip when his arms were pulled up, but he thought nothing of it.

He felt Cap tense next to him, trying to think of what to do. He held a hand over Cap's knee. He didn't want him to do anything stupid and get the kid killed. He watched Ben get angry. The man asked him if he was going to beg for mercy. Personally, Tony expected him to. He was surprised when he didn't, and instead used an English accent to say how he had been tortured worse than that before.

Cap and Tony shared a look before watching Ben get electrocuted and pass out. Tony winced for the kid. That had to have hurt. But why did he have gloves that could electrocute you? Ben was slumped forward in his chains as much as possible.

"Well, that was fun. Oh, and Bruce, I advise you to tell the rest who you really are. When the kid wakes up, of course. And for each hour you don't, the kid gets shocked again." And with that, he and the other men left.

Cap immediately sprung up and checked Ben's pulse. The sigh of relief told them there was one, thankfully. He sat back down again and no one spoke for a while.

"So... Bruce. Secret identity, huh?" Tony asked a few minutes later. Bruce replied with a curt nod, but he glared at the floor.

Cap gasped, and then began grumbling to himself.

"What's up?" Tony asked.

"I left my shield in the limo! What if they took it?" Cap looked furious at himself.

"Relax, they're probably too dumb to check the cars around Oscorp." Pete chided in. "They probably thought you appeared out of nowhere." He shrugged. "Or whatever. Don't go beating yourself up about it, though. If you had brought it with you they would still have it, and even if they do have it you'll have the possibility of a weapon for when we break out."

Cap smiled as the teenager said, "When."

Knowing there was nothing better to do, they went to sleep, one staying awake just in case Ben woke up or his condition worsened.

**********Bruce Wayne's POV************

Anger coursed through him. How could he have been so stupid to have let someone sneak up behind him and knock him out in the first place?! He was _Batman_, for Christ's sake!

He took a couple of deep breaths to clear his head. He had already decided he was going to tell them he was Batman the second Ben woke up. What did he have to lose? No one in the cell would tell, as the majority were heroes and Ben seemed a pretty decent kid, and their captors already knew who he was, evidently.

Suddenly, there was a scuffle coming from down the corridor and he sat up from pretending to sleep. Yells were added to the noise, but Bruce couldn't make out what was being said.

He quickly prodded the others awake, needlessly, as the yells hurt their ears now. Even Ben was jolted awake, but still looked half unconscious.

"Get your... Hands off of me!" One yelled.

"Wolf! You there?" Another cried out.

"Yeah Eagle, we're all here!" Yet another shouted.

"Shut up, the lot of you!" There was a thump and a grunt after that was said, and they shut up.

12 men came into view, 8 balaclava'd men were dragging along 4 others, who were blindfolded and zip-tied around their ankles and wrists.

They all reached the bars of their cell and the balaclava'd ones all pointed their guns at Ben, who was fighting against unconsciousness.

The cell occupants edged towards the back wall while the four blindfolded men were let in and released from their bonds and threatened into staying put. Then one man walked over to Ben and pulled out a key, which he used to unlock him; hands first, so he fell until he caught himself.

Ben sat up when he was released fully and held a hand as nonchalantly as he could against his right shoulder, as though it was painful, and frowned at the men, as though they were familiar.

Bruce was the only one who noticed any of his actions, and sent a questioning look Ben's way, which was ignored.

"Well, look who decided to join the party: K-Unit, of the SAS." Bruce notice Ben's eyes widen, but didn't say anything.

"How do you know that?" one of the men piped up.

"Dog tags, Eagle," said another, obviously annoyed at his comrade's stupidity, both at talking and the stupid question.

"Apparently, these guys were sent on a rescue mission for someone in this cell. Obviously, that mission failed." One man mocked them.

The balaclava'd men then undid K-Unit's blindfolds and left.

*********Alex Rider' POV**********

Alex quickly turned his head away from K-Unit. If they recognised him, his cover would be blown. He had to discreetly tell them not to say anything. But, he noticed Bruce was watching him, and he couldn't risk it.

He only turned around so his face was unseen by K-Unit. He wasn't sure why he was so desperate to keep his cover; he just had a feeling something bad would happen if he didn't.

"Woah! Tony Stark, Captain America, Hellboy and Bruce Wayne?!" Alex couldn't help but laugh at Eagle's excited squeal, and the thump that followed.

"Eagle, cool it," Wolf ordered. "Would you think already?"

"So," Snake said coolly. "Who are the teens?" Alex's heart skipped a beat. Trust Snake to need to know everything.

"Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, but don't tell anyone." They all looked at him, astonished. "What? They'll probably just get me to tell you again anyway."

"Speaking of secret identities," Bruce started, and sighed. "I'm Batman."

Before anyone could say anything else, Eagle snorted. "This is so cool! Trapped in a cell with Iron Man, Captain America, Hellboy, Batman, Spider-Man and... Who are you?"

_Damn,_ Alex thought. He was nearly off the hook.

"Ben. Ben Scott," He said hesitantly, begging they didn't recognise his voice, even with the accent. "I haven't got powers, or anything though; I'm nothing special."

He begged again through minds, forbidding his older cellmates to not tell K-Unit about his gadgets.

"Except for your gloves." _Damn you, Tony!_

"Why, what was up with his gloves?" Snake asked, curious again.

"Nothing!" Alex practically shouted, nearly forgetting his accent. "There was nothing up with them! They were perfectly normal!" _Alex, what was that? _He thought rhetorically to himself. _So you can undergo torture without giving anything away, but you nearly lose it when your old comrades discover who you are?!_

In his annoyance at himself, he didn't notice Eagle had pulled himself around so he could see Alex clearly.

"Oh my God! Cubby!" He was pulled into a tight hug while resisting the urge to facepalm.

"What?" Snake asked.

Eagle let go and turned Alex around. "It's Cub!"

He tried one last time for his identity. "What? Cub? Who's that?" He asked convincingly.

Eagle frowned. He obviously didn't get it. "Cub, what are you talking about? We know it's you!" He grinned again. "Wolf, isn't it Cub?"

Wolf narrowed his eyes and nodded. "What's with the accent, Cub?"

"Oh for God's sake," Alex mumbled in his normal accent. "Can't you guys take a hint?" he growled at the SAS men.

"Ok, son," Cap started. "Who are you, and what is going on?"

He looked back at the Americans and put a hand over his eyes, thinking what to do. He could either play dumb or just give it all up and tell them. The latter sounded like the easier option.

"Fine." He said, looking up. "My name is Alex Rider, not Ben Scott. I lived in England with my Uncle and housekeeper after my parents were killed in a plane crash. Then my uncle was murdered and it turns out he was working for MI6. I was then threatened by MI6 to finish his mission, or they would take Jack, my guardian, former housekeeper, away from me. To America, in fact. I had no choice but to do it, and I went on loads more missions after that, I can't remember how many, and succeeded in all of them. Then Jack was murdered and my friend Sabina and her parents, who were looking after me, were murdered, too, and I am currently in the custody of the Royal and General Bank, AKA MI6. My most recent mission was to tail Tony and that's how I ended up here." He took a deep breath, glad that it was all off his chest.

There was a pregnant silence for a long while, until Cap asked gently, "How old are you, son?"

"14." He replied without emotion. "Or 15; I might've missed my birthday."

He became annoyed with their stares and looked down. It was then he became aware of the pain in his shoulder, and he absent-mindedly held his hand to it again.

"Cub?" Wolf asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. About your parents, I, I didn't know. If I did, I wouldn't have-"

"Wolf, it's fine."

"No, it's not fine. You don't deserve any of this! Why didn't you tell us at Brecon Beacons about MI6?!"

"Well, I might've, if you hadn't kept jumping down my throat with insults about my 'rich parents' every day!" Alex shot back.

"Sorry," Alex sighed. "Just forget about it, I- Ugh..." He grimaced and groaned as he received a massive pain in his shoulder. He forgot about keeping it a secret and held a hand tight to it. The pain blinded him so much he barely noticed when Snake was crouching not a foot away from him.

"Cub," he began gently. "Cub, what happened? Let me see your shoulder."

Alex shook his head, not wanting them to see his scars or burns. "It's fine, nothing's wrong, just, just, something."

He noticed Snake frown while he tried to steady his breathing. "Cub, let me see before I force your shirt off."

"No." Alex growled through gritted teeth. When was the last time he had taken a painkiller? He couldn't remember, but those things lasted for quite a while, so it must be wearing off only now.

"Cub, I'm not kidding. There're nine men in here, all stronger than you. If you don't take your shirt off, we will not hesitate in forcing you to." He spoke sternly but softly.

"Cub, would you just take off your shirt? It's not like you have _boobs_ or anything." Eagle snickered at his own joke.

"Cub, come on. We only want to help you." Wolf said, strangely kind.

Alex sighed, and reluctantly began taking off his ugly green shirt. He winced and moaned while trying to keep his shoulder still and unstretched.

"Blimey, Cub, what the _hell_ happened to you?!" Snake practically shouted. His eyes landed on the bullet wound right above his heart, then to the various stab wounds littering his torso, and finally to the most recent injury, which had started bleeding a small amount through the stitches.

Cap noticed the damage and made his way over to Alex. "You say you were blackmailed by MI6?" Alex nodded with his eyes shut from the pain. "But you're underage! It's not legal! All the damage they've caused you-!"

"Cap, relax, I don't care. There's nothing anyone can do about it, and until I'm 18 I can't do anything either. I really couldn't care less and, besides, the missions don't let me dwell on the past too much so it's not like I'm depressed, or anything."

Cap was surprised at the comment, and evidently so was everyone else.

"Alex." He said. "Alex, open your eyes and look at me." Alex did as he was told, wincing as Snake set to work on his shoulder. "There is something someone can do. Ever heard of SHIELD?" He smiled smugly as Alex nodded. "Nick will help you out, and more." They heard a tear from Snake's direction and saw he had ripped off his sleeve.

"Cub, don't squirm; it'll probably sting a bit."

"Why do you keep calling him Cub?" Cap asked, putting a hand on the crook of Alex's elbow as the makeshift bandage was tightened on his shoulder.

"I trained with them for a week-ish in Brecon Beacons before I went on my first mission," Alex explained. "My codename was Cub. There's Wolf, the leader," Wolf nodded, "Fox, the third most sensible," Fox grinned, "Eagle, the joker and idiot," Eagle feigned insult while Wolf snickered, "And Snake, the medic." Snake gave Cap a thumbs up and finished tightening the knot of the sleeve-bandage.

"Try not to move it so much, I'm not sure how long those stitches will last." Snake pointed to the bullet wound right above Alex's heart. "How did you survive that, Cub? It looks like it went right through your heart."

"It nearly did, I was stepping off a curb when the assassin shot, so it went a little higher up."

"Assassin?" Cap asked.

"Yeah, the mission before I kind of, er, killed a couple of members of SCORPIA and well, 'Scorpia never forgives, Scorpia never forgets.'" He shrugged.

***Sorry I'm not sure if this is his actual age from the movieverse but yeah.**

**Dumb ending, I know, but it's late here and I need to do some homework :/ Next chapter will involve LOTS of Alex hurt! **

**Please REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**TantalumCobalt:** **Yeah, I meant** **Fox had the third highest level of sensibility, and it went Wolf, Snake, Fox, Eagle. :) SHIELD is explained in this chapter, same as Alex's explanation to his explanation of himself :) Thanks for reviewing!**

**PeaceLoveNINJA: I love your name, by the way :) Your first question is answered in this chapter and the rest I give many thanks for your awesome ideas :) You'll expect to see at least the K-Unit and Alex out of their leaguing and probably the fight :) Thanks so much for reviewing!**

**Thanks everyone for your reviews! I'll try to keep the updates more frequent but I'm currently writing three others and this one always has the longest chapters, I'm not sure why!**

**There is one teensy weensy swear in this chapter, and I apologise as I hate swearing, but I couldn't find any other synonym that would suffice for the captors' personalities. Sorry!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

"Look, it's not a big deal, I'm only a spy. Pete is _Spider-Man_ for God's sake, and you weren't gawking at him for an hour!" Alex cried in exasperation. He had spent the last hour (give or take) answering and not answering questions given to him by his cellmates about his missions, and was getting thoroughly fed up. "Why don't you pick on Pete instead of me for a while? He's the second youngest."

"Oh, _thanks_, Alex," Pete mock glared at Alex, pouting.

"Peter _chose_ to be Spider-Man-" Cap was cut off.

"No, I didn't! I didn't _ask_ to be bitten, it was an accident!"

"No, but you could have ignored your powers and just went on with your life. You chose, and you could quit with the snap of your fingers. Alex, on the other hand, has no powers and doesn't want to do what he does. SHIELD can help."

"Ok, I was gonna pretend I know what SHIELD is, but I know I can't keep up that act for long. What is it?" Typically, it was Eagle who asked.

"Eagle, are you serious?" Wolf asked. "We were all told about them a while back when we had to team up with a few of their agents! You seriously can't remember?" Wolf shook his head at Eagle.

"SHIELD is the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.* It's like the organisation that's like the ruler of the spy world. Nick Fury wants something, he'll get it. Including the Avengers." Tony Stark smirked. "It has access to everything and it has a really sucky firewall on its computers. Took me only twenty minutes to hack 'em."

"Ok..." Eagle looked slightly out of his league when talking to the billionaire. "Who's Nick Fury? Name rings a bell, but I can't place it..."

"He's the director of SHIELD. He's the one in charge of the Avengers Initiative." Cap answered before Tony could open his mouth.

"Hate that guy. His eyepatch freaks me out." Pete said. "And he's mean. Says if I 'step one toe out of line, or do anything at all that SHIELD doesn't like,' he'll force me to work for him when I'm 18 and put me in jail 'till then. Ass."**

"He said that to you? Why?"

"Because of that mess at Oscorp a couple of months back. Said I made too much damage and if it wasn't for me, there never would have been a Lizard in the first place. Which was true, but I cleaned it all up and saved them all. And I did it all with a bullet wound." He smirked. "I told Fury to shove it."

Tony smirked. "When was this? I'd have _loved_ to have been there."

"Day after Oscorp. He hauled me out of class and I got a fake dete-" he suddenly gasped. "How long have we been here?" he cried, eyes wide.

"At least a week, I'd say. Why?" Bruce told the kid.

Pete suddenly groaned and leaned his head against the wall. "I'm missing our midterms."***

Alex smiled. He himself had not been at school for at least four months. MI6, evidently, had no care for his education, and now that everyone was gone he had no one over 18 to speak on his behalf.

But now, he thought, maybe he did. What if this Nick Fury guy _could_ help him? He would no longer have MI6 breathing down his shoulder, and could possibly have an education, and a _life_, with real people in it, and not just the emotionless morons at MI6. But he didn't really know about letting a spy organisation help him with getting out of another spy organisation.

But what did he really have to lose?

"Snake, you okay?" He had just noticed Snake was looking rather uncomfortable. Now he had nothing to occupy himself with, Alex's shoulder bandaged and fine for the time being, he looked as though he was only just aware he was in a room full of superheroes.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine, Cub." He said a little too fast.

Before Alex could reply, however, they heard footsteps, about three people, coming down the hallway.

As Alex had predicted, there were three. As usual, they were men wearing balaclavas and had guns in their hands.

"We want the boy. Alex. Come here or we'll shoot Tony Stark." They all pointed their guns at Tony and Alex hesitated briefly before standing up and walking over to them. He kept on an emotionless mask and didn't speak while he was thrust out of the cell and into zip ties and a gag.

"Don't you dare hurt him or you'll have all the Ave-" Cap had gotten up and stood next to the bars, but before he could finish his speech he was hit in the mouth with the end of a gun.

"Shut up, you've already earnt him some more pain, wouldn't want any more now, would we?"

Cap glared at the men who then pulled Alex down the corridor.

The last thing they heard before the men were out of earshot was, "I hear you pissed off Scorpia? Well, let me tell you, we have someone who's _very_ happy you're here."

Cap cursed and punched the wall, making his fist bleed. They had been told by Bruce that the walls were coated in adamantium pretty much the second they woke up, which they were grateful for because they had all had plans to try and punch their ways out.

************Alex Rider's POV (not sure who's POV it was before but yeah)***********

Alex was thrust into a chair in the middle of a concrete room. A man paced slowly in front of Alex, not taking his beady little piggy eyes off of him. His eyes were the only things Alex could see of him; he had on a jacket, balaclava, surgical gloves, jeans and polished black boots.

They hadn't removed Alex's gag, but if they had Alex didn't know if he would have been able to keep his mouth shut about the man's appearance.

The man suddenly stopped pacing, and turned full towards Alex. He detected a slight limp, nearly invisible, but it would be handy if- no, _when, _they were going to escape. If they could tell the difference between all the men to know their weaknesses.

"You really should watch what you say in front of cameras. Surely you, Alex Rider, the one and only, would be careful? Yet you tell basically your whole life story and we now know that Scorpia wants you dead."

Alex mentally slapped himself. He had known there were cameras in the room, but he had felt so guilty about the other two heroes with identities having the guilt ridden on them for a day or two because of their food he felt he had to have told them a bit more. His life story was an apology. Mentioning Scorpia was stupidity.

"Well, as it is, we owe Scorpia a favour. We've already told them we have you, and they've already told us they want our best torturer - me – to kill you. I'm told I have a week to do with you what I like, then I will eventually kill you." He laughed at Alex's unchanged expression. Alex really didn't seem to care.

"You really are a good spy, aren't you?" he chuckled again. Just then, they noticed the shouts from the cell. They were making threats and bargains, and basically being unprofessional, especially on K-Unit's part. They were SAS, for flip's sake!

"Seems your friends care very much about you..." there was a glint in the man's eye. He was planning something. Not. Good.

"I have an idea. Our original intentions were to hold the 'heroes' here until we get some offers for them. It's all about the money; nothing personal, Alex. But, seems a little bit of mental torture of seeing their friend _physically_ tortured wouldn't be _so_ bad, I suppose..." He thought about it for about thirty seconds, before making up his mind and nodding. He gestured for the two guards at the door to come get Alex, and they dragged the English teen out of the room.

They reached the cell, and Alex looked around for any way he could escape. He could not find any.

Alex's torturer dragged a chair in and pushed him into it. He tied his arms to the arms of the chair, and his legs to the legs, keeping him from moving. He was still gagged and he refused to meet the eye of anyone.

"Don't touch him." Hellboy said menacingly. Alex was momentarily surprised. Hellboy had barely said a word to him since he told them he was a spy, and now he was defending him? He looked up without moving his head and saw Hellboy had made his way over to the bars and punched them as hard as he could with his right fist.

The bars weren't even dented; they were adamantium, after all. The torturer laughed at Hellboy's attempts and said, "Oh, that'll earn little Alex some more pain, thanks Hellboy."

Hellboy glared at the torturer through the bars and stood there awhile. "You can call me," the torturer stroked his chin. "Pain."

Alex attempted to say something, then remembered he was wearing a gag, so it came out as, "Fay? Ow majintive."

The gag was ripped off of his mouth. "Sorry, Alex, what was that?" Pain asked.

"I said, Pain? How imaginative." He repeated, rolling his eyes. He'd been tortured before; on his second last mission, in fact. He wasn't worried. He gave a hopefully reassuring look to the heroes in the cell and frowned when the gag was put back on his mouth.

"Cheek will not help you here, Alex. I think now's a good time to begin."

Pain pulled out a knife and made over to Alex. He toyed with it, smiling, and he suddenly stabbed it deep into Alex's hand, poking out the other side.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut but didn't give any sounds. He heard a gasp coming from the cell and briefly wondered who gave it before the knife was pulled roughly out of his hand.

"Rats prfetic." Alex tried to murmur. The stupid gag was in the way of his snarky comments.

"This actually might be more fun with the gag off. What did you say, Alex?" Pain tore off the gag.

"I _said_, that's pathetic." Alex growled. "I've been through much worse than you and your smell." Pain did smell very bad, like he hadn't showered in weeks; not to mention his bad breath.

That comment earnt him a sharp punch to the face. Alex winced but stared straight ahead. His lack of emotion evidently annoyed Pain, and he got another punch.

Still he stared at one of the bars of the cell, and he got one more punch to the face before the chair was roughly tipped back, taking him by surprise. He was looking up at the ceiling, a hand of someone on his chest keeping him down, and when he saw the towel and bucket of water he knew what was coming.

He groaned inwardly and mentally prepared himself. He hated water boarding with all his being. Well, who wouldn't? But water boarding gave a feeling of panic that was near impossible to shake off. Alex had had experience with it. More than once.

The cloth was placed on his face and the sides held down so he couldn't shake it off and he pushed down the mild feeling of panic creeping up his spine. Then he felt the water on the cloth and he tried not to panic, but after about a minute he couldn't hold it any more. He struggled madly against his bonds and the hands on the towel and his chest.

Alex vaguely heard shouting from somewhere in front of him, and replies from the sides, but he really couldn't care less at that moment in time.

He tried to take a breath but breathed in wet cloth and dampness, making him try to cough and ending up spluttering and choking. Finally, the water stopped and he was tipped upright again, the towel taken off. They allowed him a few breaths before Pain grabbed a silver tin.

Inside was what looked like an ordinary needle and a remote control, like one from a remote control car.

Pain smirked at Alex's curious look and picked up the two objects.

He pressed a button on the remote, and the needle seemingly grew in thickness, to about the size of a finger. Pain pressed another few buttons on the remote, and it began moving around in his hand. It went in a circle and stopped. He caught it before it fell on the floor and smirked at the people in the cell.

Pain snapped his fingers and two of his men pulled Alex's shirt up. Pain went around to Alex's front and shrunk the needle thing again. He placed the tip on Alex's abdomen and pushed it in, all the way.

Alex winced and glared down at Pain, earning another smirk. Pain stood up from his crouch and pressed some buttons on the remote and Alex felt the thing moving around in him. It bloody hurt.

Pain struggled for a bit before smiling and placing his finger on a button, the one to grow the needle, poised to press it.

"The whole aim for this is for your friends having to be the ones causing you the most pain. You'll be provided with a scalpel, needle, thread and no anaesthetic. It'll be your job to take my Needle, as I like to call it, out. It'll be releasing tiny amounts of the fatal toxin, mixed with truth serum, in it over a period of 24 hours, before finally killing him." He smiled. "This will be fun to watch."

He snapped his fingers and one of the men held his hands on Alex's shoulders, holding him in place and causing him agony from his stitches. Pain then slammed his finger down on the button and Alex felt the Needle grow inside his abdomen. Unfortunately, this time he could not hold back a scream.

He cut himself off as soon as he could, desperately trying not to give Pain the satisfaction. He tightened his grip on the arms of the chair, wincing as he forgot about the hole in his hand.

He received a beating, rough even by his standards. He felt he had cracked or broken a couple of ribs and lost a couple of teeth, at least. Finally, Pain said, "Well, I think you've had enough for today. From us, that is. Your friends still have to get the Needle out of you. Just one more thing shouldn't hurt. Sort of."

Pain pulled out the knife he had used on Alex's hand and stabbed it deep, down to its hilt, into Alex's leg, right above his knee. He gasped as it was pulled out and coughed when he nearly choked on his own blood.

Finally he was untied. The cell was opened and he was roughly shoved in, trying desperately to stay on his feet. He nearly failed but Cap and Bruce caught him.

*********Snake's POV************

As promised, a scalpel, needle (a normal one) and thread was given to Snake and the men left them alone. Immediately Snake took charge.

"Lay him down on the floor. Carefully." He could see Cub was on the verge of unconsciousness but he was determined to stay awake.

"No, I don't need to lie down, Snake, I'm fine," Cub muttered but everyone ignored him. Cap and Bruce lay him down on the cold floor and the other cell occupants stood back, not quite knowing what to do.

Snake crouched next to Cub and couldn't help but admire the boy's perseverance in the torture. He barely made a sound except for the Needle, apart from the snarky comments at Pain.

Snake noticed a few questioning looks thrown his way and he explained, "I'm their medic." He jerked his thumb at his unit.

Snake's priority was Cub's leg, which was bleeding badly. One of his sleeves had already been ripped off so he pulled off the other, almost immediately shivering. Snake tied the makeshift bandage around Cub's leg wound as tight as possible, wincing as Cub groaned.

"Sorry," he mumbled and Cub rolled his eyes.

"Don't apologise; it's fine, Snake." Cub smiled at him and he smiled back before gently picking up Cub's wrist. The wound went right through to the other side and Snake couldn't help but wince.

He had no more sleeves and he refused Cub's offer; he had to keep him warm.

"Anyone wanna offer a sleeve?"

"I would, but I don't have any." Hellboy said, frowning. Snake nodded and received one from Captain America. He tied it tight around Cub's hand and he groaned again but tried to hold it so it came out as some sort of whimper.

"You're going to have to take off your shirt so I can check your shoulder again, Cub."

Cub nodded and attempted to sit up. He gritted his teeth and hissed at the pain from his ribs and the Needle. Snake carefully put a hand on his uninjured shoulder to steady him and allowed a few minutes for Cub to catch his breath before helping him take his shirt off.

The scars on his chest still made Snake wince in sympathy but he tried to keep up his professional SAS medic air, unlike the rest of his unit; they were acting like children. He expected it was simply because they were feeling a bit, well, a lot out of their leagues. They _were_ in a cell full of heroes and a monster hunter.

Speaking of Hellboy, Snake noticed he was being very quiet ever since the two teenagers had told them of their identities. _No matter,_ he thought. _Cub was priority._

Snake carefully took off the old sleeve from Cubs shoulder. Thankfully, it didn't look too bad. Nevertheless, he tightened the sleeve around the wound. Cub stayed sitting up, ignoring Snake's protests.

"Fine, but you'll have to lie down, er... later." Snake didn't want to mention the surgery he knew he would have to do. He wasn't even sure if Cub would survive it; he would lose blood. Not to mention the agony he would have to go through. But what choice did they have? It was either a chance of death, or definite death when the Needle gave off the toxin.

"So..." Cub said. "Anyone got any ideas on how to get out? I can't find any weaknesses that helped me before." He scowled.

"No. They're very well prepared, even the bricks are coated with adamantium." Bruce told them. So they were well and truly screwed. If Bruce, master detective, couldn't find an escape route, they were trapped until he could find one. "Even the strongest of us can't destroy adamantium." He nodded at Hellboy. "Are you okay, Alex?" Bruce had noticed Alex putting a hand on his forehead.

"What? Oh yeah, I just... That toxin must be affecting me this quickly. I'm just dizzy." Alex closed his eyes and leaned on his good leg's knee.

Snake was extremely worried. It wasn't even just the fact that Cub was slowly dying, but that he was the one who would have to do the surgery and hopefully save his life.

"Y'know, I was thinking, they didn't say they found the tracker in my watch. And if they didn't and they're destroying it now because I'm saying this, then MI6 will know where I am, unless they move us and then we'll be able to escape." Snake was confused as to why Cub said this. If they were this well prepared they surely wouldn't let them escape while moving them. Then he realised Cub's words were slurred. He also had a strange, dazed grin on his face.

"Cub? You feeling alright?" Snake asked.

"Never better Snake, why do you ask, good fellow?" Ok... Now Cub was putting on a posh accent. He was delusional. Not good.

"Just wondering," Snake mumbled, looking at the heroes, a silent plea on his face: _help._ The Needle was affecting Cub's sanity, if only temporarily, but the boy had plenty of secrets no one should know, personal or belonging to MI6; he could not let the truth serum give too many secrets.

"I wonder if we'll be rescued, or if we'll escape ourselves." Cub wondered out loud, looking down at the floor as though thinking very hard. "So people who could save us are: MI6, which probably won't happen, seeing as they don't really care about a teenager with nothing to lose," Snake frowned. Nothing to lose? "Or there's the Justice League, SHIELD, the BPRD, the SAS, or the rest of the Avengers. Seeing as we've been here for about a week, I think we're screwed."

_Well, that was a hopeful outlook on the situation_, Snake thought sarcastically. They couldn't very well stop Cub's rambling, so they decided just to let him talk away. Unless he said something important.

"Hey, Pete, have you got anyone?"

Pete shook his head. "Not anyone capable of helping anymore than anyone you've already listed." Pete shrugged.

"But, do you have a girlfriend?" The question visibly took Pete by surprise. Random much?

"Err, yeah, sort of," Pete said. "What about you?"

"No. She died. Along with her parents, because of me." Cub growled at the floor and Snake nearly gasped. The way he said _because of me_, he didn't know Cub was capable of that much venom. And he had had a girlfriend. Wait, didn't he say something about a girl and her parents looking after him? Sabina, it was. Was she his girlfriend?

"Alex, don't you have anyone looking after you?" Bruce asked, frowning.

Cub shook his head. "No, MI6 wouldn't give me the privilege. But they give me money for food and stuff. Not enough to have any fun, though." Cub smiled grimly and slightly creepily.

Snake looked over and saw Cap deep in thought. This poor kid had no one at all, and all because of a government agency.

"My godfather killed my parents. His name was Ash. Yassen Gregorovich worked for Scorpia, and my dad did, too, as a double agent. My dad saved Yassen's life, once. Yassen spared my life loads of times, and I believed Scorpia when they told me MI6 had killed my dad, but they didn't. So I went and trained to become and assassin for Scorpia."

Everyone felt uncomfortable listening to Cub spilling all his secrets but they couldn't do anything about it. They all knew that sooner or later they would have to do the surgery. The scalpel, needle and thread was sitting in Pete's lap, and everyone was trying to ignore them.

Suddenly, Cub's rambling stopped and he paled considerably. He held his hands over the side of his stomach and bit his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut.

Snake knew the surgery would have to come soon.

***I'm using the acronym from the movies, rather than Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate because more people have heard of the former and the movieverse one is the easiest to remember because it's in the films. :)**

****Yeah, yeah, I know that never happened in the movie, I'm just stealing a bit from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic (or, possibly, the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie! That would be a dream come true)**

*****I apologise if I wrongly used 'midterms.' I have no idea what they are, but I know they're some kind of tests American kids do, according to the movies. As you can probably tell, I'm not American.**

**Medical stuff is probably ALL WRONG, especially the surgery bit; there's probably no chance of survival, but, please, just go with it. Seriously. Hopefully it should be ok, though, I've had some first aid training so should be alright. Probably not, though. :)**

**I've already started on the next chapter so that should probably come soon!**

**So yeah, PLEASE REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Starkid191: Yeah... Something like that ;D**

**Giverofgrace: Oh right, thanks a lot! :D**

**Apple in the ocean: Haha thanks, and I recommend you look up Hellboy :D He's just too cool not to! Yeah, people have been saying about Alex's story, but I had to get him to tell it eventually, so I thought, eh, why not now? :D Thanks for reviewing!**

**Guest: Thanks! Over here we just call them 'end of term tests.' Sooooo imaginative... Not. I like 'midterms' better :)**

**IWannaLightsaber: Yeah, sorry, I'll try and make K-Unit not too silly, but it's kinda hard because I haven't read the Alex Rider books for ages, only Fanfictions where they all act like idiots :/ But I'll try and make them more SAS-y! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Just a quick warning: this chapter has the un-anaesthetised surgery in it, and it drags on for aaaaaages. So yeah, sorry, but how the heck would this be done quickly? But there's an upside: I'M ADDING SOMEONE NEW! Well, two someones! If you don't like my choice, it's not my fault, I got my friend to choose! Blame her, not me!**

**This chapter's medical stuff is probably all wrong, but just pretend it's right, please! It is a fanfiction, so everything's fiction. So the medical stuff can be fictional, too. Oh yeah, loophole, people!**

***********Snake's POV**************

He didn't know what to do. He partly wished he wasn't the medic; he would have to be the one to cause Cub so much pain.

"What now?" he asked the heroes and his unit.

Bruce looked at the scalpel, needle and thread in Pete's lap. "I think now would be the best time to do it, before he gets worse." Snake reluctantly nodded his agreement. Cub was already delusional, in pain, and he was dizzy, Snake could tell.

Snake shuffled over to where Bruce was sitting with Cap, Hellboy, Tony and Pete. "You're going to have to hold him down; he's going to wriggle. A lot." Snake didn't meet anyone's eyes.

"That's understandable." Bruce murmured. "It'll hurt a hell of a lot."

"I hate this. Why do we have to do this? He's fourteen, for Christ's sake. It's all MI6's fault. That kid has seen too much; more than any of K-Unit, I'll tell you that." Snake nodded towards his unit, who had also shuffled over to the group. "Wolf, what do you reckon?"

"About what?" Wolf was taken aback; he obviously thought he had no authority in the cell, because of all the heroes.

"Well, Cub! I'm the medic, and I need permission from you if I'm going to operate on him, before I ask these ones."

"Oh yeah, of course, Snake. Why wouldn't you?" Snake shrugged and looked at the heroes for confirmation.

"What do you all think?"

The heroes looked at each other and nodded. "Of course you'll do it, Snake, if you're up to it." Cap said. "You're the only one with the training."

"Well, actually, I've never had to operate on someone, but I think I have a general idea of what to do." Snake said sheepishly.

Bruce was about to say something when they were interrupted by a loud groan. They turned around to see Cub on all fours, clutching his gut.

Snake stumbled quickly to his feet and made over to Cub. He gently held him and pushed him so he was leaning up against the wall. Snake noticed Cub was breathing deeply with his eyes tight shut.

Cub's head slumped forward and he groaned again. "Cub, try and relax."

"It hurts," Cub moaned. Snake had a sneaky suspicion Cub wouldn't have said that if he hadn't been injected with truth serum.

"I know it does, but keep breathing. We'll get it out of you soon."

Cub reached up and grabbed Snake's shoulder, squeezing as he pulled his legs up to his chest.

Snake jumped when a hand firmly planted itself on his other shoulder. He turned around to see it was Bruce. He frowned at the billionaire and moved out of the way, Cub's hand dropping off his shoulder, along with Bruce's.

Bruce crouched in front of Cub and took his good hand in his. Cub weakly lifted his head up and squinted through bleary eyes at Bruce, gasping.

"Alex, listen to me. We will get out of here, but you have to hold on until then. We have no choice but to take out the Needle, and it will be painful, but it's necessary. Do you understand?" Bruce spoke firmly but softly.

Cub stared at Bruce for a few seconds, as if trying to figure out what he said, before he nodded and put his head on his knees, still tucked against his chest. He mumbled something that no one but Bruce heard, and the billionaire smiled.

"Alex?" He asked the teenager. "Will you look at me?" Cub hesitated before dragging his head up to rest on the wall, looking at Bruce.

"I'm looking." Cub croaked.

"Remember to breathe when we do this," Bruce looked sternly at him, gaining a tired nod. "Ok, Snake? Now would be the best time to do it, before he gets worse." Snake was mildly surprised to see worry in Bruce's eyes; he had heard about Batman's supposed emotionlessness plenty a time.

"Oh, er, yeah, hold on," Snake scrambled to his feet and took the scalpel and stitching equipment off of Peter. He attempted to clean the scalpel as best as he could, when he noticed something.

"Damn." He said.

"What?" Bruce stood up and walked over.

"The scalpel, it's so blunt," Snake showed Bruce and saw his face change into what Snake assumed was his Batman-face.

"'Course it is." Bruce cursed under his breath. "Well, we still have to do it, no matter what."

Snake jumped yet again when Cap's voice came from directly behind him. "What will we do?" he asked, gesturing to the heroes and K-Unit against the wall, who were watching the exchanges warily.

"You, Hellboy, Peter and I will hold his limbs. Tony, make sure he doesn't whack his head on the floor. K-Unit, two of you try and control the blood flow, and one more pass Snake the equipment." Bruce ordered. No one protested; it made sense for the strongest four to hold him down and the weakest to do the other jobs.

"Cap and I will hold his arms, Hellboy and Pete his legs." He continued. "K-Unit, have you sort-" he was cut off by a gasp and a muffled shout from Cub.

Cub was clutching his stomach, damaging his hand further in the process. His face was contorted in pain and his breathing was deep but raspy.

Bruce again crouched in front of him, but this time he gently pulled Cub's injured hand away from his stomach and persuaded him to loosen his fingers. Cub's blonde hair fell in front of his face as he bent his head again.

"We do it now." Bruce demanded. K-Unit had decided that Fox and Wolf would control the bleeding and Eagle would hand Snake things.

"Alex, can you lay down?" Bruce asked gently.

Cub didn't seem to have heard him at all; he just sat there, curled up, his arm in Bruce's hands.

Bruce waited a few moments before looking back at Snake, gesturing him forward. Bruce wanted Cub to lie down, so Snake held a hand gently on his bicep of his injured shoulder and the shoulder of his uninjured one. He gently pulled him towards him, wincing at Cub's groans, and laid him on the stone floor.

Bruce and Snake gave Cub a few seconds to catch his breath before lifting him further away from the wall and into the middle of the floor. Cub immediately held his hands on his abdomen, eyes squeezed tight shut.

The heroes and K-Unit slowly and warily made their ways over to Cub, Snake and Bruce, who was examining the scalpel again. He glared at it for a few moments more before turning to the needle and thread for stitching.

"Oh, my god. You have _got_ to be kidding me." Bruce frowned, looking at the whole length of thread.

"What?" Snake asked, crouching down to look, too.

"This thread is encrusted with salt." He gave it to Snake and he grimaced. The thread was, as Bruce said, completely encrusted with salt. It would hurt a hell of a lot, but at least it would help with infection.

"None of it will come off," Bruce growled. "But we'll have to just do it; we don't have any other choice."

Again, they were interrupted by a loud groan from Cub. His breathing was laboured and he was too pale for anyone's liking.

"Get... It- Ugh! _Out."_ Cub begged, desperately gripping his stomach. He then squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, holding his breath.

Bruce was immediately next to him, a hand on Cub's uninjured shoulder. "Alex! Breathe, _now_." He spoke sternly and pleadingly.

Cub paused before letting out a breath, then immediately sucking one back in. He took deep, raspy breaths that sounded sore to take.

"Snake, we'll do it now." Bruce commanded, gesturing the others over.

Hellboy and Peter both took their places at Cub's legs and Cap crouched opposite Bruce, before Bruce shook his head.

"Cap, let's swap; I want to be on his injured side." They swapped places, and Bruce gripped places of Cub's arms that were not hurt.

"You ready?" he asked everyone. They all grabbed Cub's limbs, Tony placed a shirt under Cub's head, and nodded. "What about you, Alex?"

Alex looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "How the heck would you get ready for this, Bruce?" He frowned at Bruce before nodding at him. "Yeah, okay, just get it over with." Cub's voice cracked on the last word.

"Snake, you ready?" Snake didn't reply; he was waiting for Eagle to untangle the thread that he had somehow managed to tangle in the few seconds he had it. Snake frowned pointedly at Eagle, waiting nearly a minute before Eagle realised they were all waiting for him.

"Sorry." He put on a somewhat steely face and handed the thread to Snake to untangle, which he did in a few seconds. He handed it back and poised to begin.

*********Tony Stark's POV*******

Tony couldn't help but shudder. His own un-anaesthetised surgery had been agony enough, but this kid was only 14 (or 15), and it was his _friends_ that were performing it. Tony was kneeled behind Alex's head, ready to hold it down should he lift it.

Snake prodded Alex's abdomen, asking where the Needle was. The Needle. He couldn't begin to imagine the sadistic mind behind it, but he must admit, he was mildly impressed with the technology.

Tony jumped when Alex groaned and tensed up, lifting his head. He placed a hand on the boy's forehead and gently pushed it back.

Alex gasped, "Yeah, it's there." He closed his eyes, frowning in pain.

"Sorry." Snake looked guiltily at Alex's pained expression before looking up at Bruce, who nodded.

Snake held the scalpel, poised to cut, but then he stopped.

"Oh."

"What?" Bruce asked.

"I can't cut directly on the top of it, in case I slice it open and the toxin all comes out, so I'll have to cut near it and..."

"Dig around." Bruce finished, earning a nod from the medic. "Just do it."

Snake obeyed and placed the scalpel on Alex's skin. Tony noticed Alex tense again, but mildly this time. He also noticed Bruce, Cap, Hellboy and Pete tighten their grips on Alex's limbs.

Snake took a deep breath and began to slice. The blade wasn't nearly as sharp as it should have been, so Snake had to saw it into the boy's flesh.

Tony looked down and saw Alex had done nothing more than frown deeper.

"You okay, kid?" Tony was met with a deadly glare from Alex. "Okay, okay, stupid question, sorry." Alex closed his eyes again, sighing at Tony. _Teenagers_, Tony thought. _Well, I suppose he _is_ being cut open._

**********Captain America's POV***********

Steve gripped Alex's arm firmly. He couldn't help but wince every time Snake made a cut. The flesh that stuck to the dull blade and pulled away from the already bleeding wound. It was such a horrible sight, but he couldn't bring himself to look away; if he did he felt as though he were abandoning Alex to suffer alone.

He would not do that.

Snake began re-cutting to make the wound deeper- deep enough to reach the Needle- and Alex whimpered a few times, biting his lip.

Cap felt Alex's arm tense up, and he held it down to the floor a tad firmer. Alex's eyes shot open and he looked frantically at Cap.

"Ow, Cap, will you, ugh! Let up on the shoulder, ow, _please_?" Alex looked at Cap pleadingly before Cap quickly lifted his left hand; he had forgotten all about Alex's bullet wound and was holding it down.

"Oh, sorry, kid." Cap looked down at Alex's relieved face guiltily.

"Okay, I'm done with the cutting, I'm going to get the Needle out now. You ready?" Snake told Alex.

"Will you stop asking me that? I will always be ready." Alex said firmly but hoarsely.

"Okay, okay, sorry."

************Alex Rider's POV************

He had to admit, the cutting wasn't really that bad, compared to some of the torture he had endured. It did hurt, obviously, but it was sort of okay, because the people doing it didn't want to hurt him.

He could feel his warm blood oozing out of the cut, down to the floor and making his side sticky with it. Snake was going as fast as he could; it wasn't as if they had any blood they could transfuse, and so they had to minimise the blood loss.

Wolf and Fox were trying, and failing, to control the blood flow with their ripped-off sleeves and Alex was feeling increasingly helpless. Snake prepared himself to start "digging around", doing his best to clean his hands with a sleeve.

Alex saw Snake give one last glance towards him, before plunging his fingers into the wound.

Alex just bit back a scream, but it came out as a loud groan. He tensed, trying to pull his arms away from Cap and Bruce, anything to stop the pain.

But Cap and Bruce held firm; he could not get away, and his legs were even more impossible to free, having Hellboy and Spider-Man holding them. Alex gasped and vaguely felt a hand on his chest, keeping it down, too.

He suddenly became very dizzy and couldn't breathe. He opened his eyes wide, desperately sucking at the air but he couldn't pull any into his lungs. Alex's vision began to cloud at the edges and he heard frantic voices before passing out, welcoming the sweet, sweet darkness.

**********Bruce Wayne's POV********

No! Bruce felt for a pulse, but there was none. He felt again; still none.

"Snake! He's not breathing. Is it okay to do CPR?"

Snake looked up at Bruce, before nodding. "You have to do it, though. If I don't finish this there will be no Cub to save!"

Bruce let go of Alex's arm and placed his hands on the teen's chest. He began doing chest compressions expertly, Snake still digging around for the Needle.

"Come on, kid," Bruce urged Alex's unconscious body. He continued for about a minute, before he checked his pulse again. None. He continued for another minute and checked again. None. Wait! Yes, there it was! Slow, but there.

Bruce smiled and went back to holding Alex's arm down, just in case he woke up again. Bruce looked down to see what Snake was doing. He was groping just inside the skin, wincing and cringing as though it was hurting him. Blood poured out of the wound and soaked the floor and stained Alex's skin.

"Yes!" Snake finally said. "Got it." He winced as he pulled out the Needle, then threw it disgustedly on the floor. Alex's breathing hitched when he did so, and the kid's eyes fluttered momentarily. Don't wake up! Bruce thought; they still had to stitch it up with the salty thread.

Despite Bruce's thoughts, Alex's eyes opened.

"What the-" Alex looked around him confusedly. He looked up at Tony, who was directly above him, holding his head, then at Bruce, then Cap, then the rest. "Oh, yeah. Damn. Ow."

"What?" Tony asked, purely out of habit. "Oh, wait, sorry, that was dumb." Alex glared up at him, regardless of his apology.

He was about to say something when he gasped and squeezed his eyes shut. Bruce looked down and saw Snake had started stitching, the needle halfway in. Bruce motioned to the others to tighten their grip; Alex would fight them much more when the salt-thread got inside him.

They obeyed and held him tighter. Snake quickly glanced around before plunging the rest of the needle in him, and the beginning of the thread.

Alex gasped again, and began desperately trying to pull his arms away from Bruce and Cap, anything to stop the stitching. They all held firm, though, but somewhat reluctantly. The kid was in agony.

Alex suddenly went limp, but he was still conscious because his eyes were open and he was clawing at the floor. Bruce decided to distract him.

"Alex, tell me what your school is like."

"I... Don't go to school. Anymore."

"You don't?" Bruce was genuinely surprised*. The kid was smart.

Alex shook his head. "MI6." He said simply.

"Ok, what are your hobbies?"

"Erm... I like to – Ugh! – I like to, err... I like to fight. Kung Fu, Judo, Karate, all them."

"Oh right, do you have any belts?"

"Black. In all of them."

"That's impressive." Bruce meant it. "What about languages? Can you speak any foreign languages?"

"Japanese, Spanish, French, German, a little bit of Italian, and a couple others."

"Wow." Bruce took extra care to not talk about any people in Alex's life. "What about-"

"Done!" Snake cried triumphantly. "Don't let go yet, though." He warned the others.

Snake pulled off his shirt and used it to try and mop up the blood around Alex, leaving a square of it clean. He ripped off that square when he was done and placed it on the wound, making Alex flinch.

"Alex, when they let go of you, don't fiddle with the stitches, or anywhere around the wound. Understand?" Snake said sternly.

"Snake, _yes_, I'm not _five._" Alex growled indignantly.

"Okay, and you should stay lying down, for now."

"Am I allowed to refuse?"

Snake shrugged. "You can sit up if you want, but do not even _think_ about standing. And sitting will hurt."

"Good, can I go now?"

"Yeah. Let him go." Bruce, Cap, Hellboy, Pete and Tony released Alex and he breathed a sigh of relief, twisting his wrists around. He attempted to sit up, -slowly; he wasn't stupid- and failed when he groaned loudly. He settled for just laying on his side, propped up on the elbow of his better-off arm.

Bruce sat close to him, as did Snake, should he need anything.

"Alex, can I just say, you are one weird kid. And I've met a few weird kids in my line of work."

"Heh. How do you mean, Batman?" Alex asked.

"Well, you just had un-anaesthetised _surgery_, and you're sitting up and making jokes. That, is what I call weird. And why do you know all those languages and fighting techniques?"

Alex sighed before answering. "My uncle was with MI6, as I said before, and he trained me from the day I could walk to be one, too."

Bruce felt guilty when he realised what he was doing; taking advantage of the truth serum still inside Alex. He stopped asking questions and they fell into a comfortable silence.

That was, until they heard voices down the corridor, getting gradually louder. One that sounded like a young boy's and one that sounded older. Bruce recognised them both immediately, but silently begged he was wrong.

He was right, though: Superman and Robin were joining their cell.

***Can't remember if I mentioned he doesn't go to school to Bruce and co. Yet, but just pretend I haven't, for the sake of finishing this chapter quicker!**

**Okay, I was NOT planning on leaving it here; I was going to have some actual view of Supes and Robin, but my friend keeps texting me and telling me to hurry up so here it is!**

**Don't kill me for Supes and Robin! And don't worry about Supes being too strong, yadda yadda yadda; they have kryptonite. I'm not ****_that_**** dumb.**

**There're probably loads of inconsistencies, errors and more that I don't care to talk about in this chapter, but in my defence, it's 11pm here, and I'm knackered.**

**Oh yeah! I feel/know Hellboy has been extremely OOC in like, this whole thing, but I'm going to try and improve him next chapter!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long time it took to post this, but these chapters are like the longest of all my fanfictions and so they're like the harder to write, I swear I changed it about four times but finally stuck with this one. And before then there were exams at school, then we moved house and then the stupid laptop broke and I couldn't write anything, then I was writing, (I swear on me mum!) but it was so hard I had no clue where this story was going. I planned to get this done last last week because I went on holiday last week and I had no internet but I'm not a very organised teen, as you may have noticed. SORRY!**

**I haven't replied to any reviews because I figured you'd rather have the chapter sooner rather than me just writing like a page of replies and wasting space (and plus I'm writing this at 2 in the morning- good time to write (more creative when tired) bad time to socialize) but just know I've read every single one and I love you all!**

**OH YES! And there's and itsy bitsy reference in here, if you can find it I'll dedicate the next chapter to you. It's from a different fandom, and it's only a quote, but hopefully it's a good enough quote for people to guess. Answer'll be revealed next chapter (which will hopefully be posted sooner than this thrice-damned one)!**

**Well anyways here's the chapter, enjoy!**

James sat back in his chair. He sighed, chest rattling unhealthily, wincing as the movement jarred his ribs. He leaned forward again, finding that position more comfortable. His right hand slithered round to hold his sore torso, and he used his other hand to inch the bridge of his nose.

The computer screen in front of him suddenly came to life, and he tried to hide his pain from his sons and daughters. "Daddy!" Molly, the youngest at the age of 5, shouted.

"Hey there, kiddo," James smiled. "How've you been?" Really he meant, _Have they been feeding you? _But his eldest daughter, Becca, always caught on with his questions. Unnecessary to worry the little ones more than they already were.

"It's great! They gave us chocolate today!" Molly yelled, almost completely oblivious as to what was really going on. His other five children- Becca, Rosie, Samuel, Jamie and Natasha- were all old enough to know something bad was happening, but not exactly what. The six children had been kept in the same cell for about five weeks, with James being constantly threatened with their lives.

Becca coaxed Molly into her lap, and she looked into the camera, "Molly nearly choked on a sweet today. But the guards helped her." James raised an eyebrow, as if it were at his daughter's choking, not at what Becca said. Becca shook her head slowly, no more than half an inch moved.

James sighed. He thanked God- no, not God, if there was a God he wouldn't have let this happen- he thanked himself that he had Becca. He had no doubt she had stopped Molly choking.

He hated the kids having to see his face- the scars and scabs must definitely scare them, hell, they scared _him_, but there was no way he was going to cover his face with that wretched balaclava in front of his own children. "That's good, then."

"Dad, when can we leave?" Jamie asked. He was 15. Same age as Alex Rider, now.

"I don't know. Soon, hopefully." He knew he probably wasn't going with them; he knew too much. He only hoped for mercy for his children, but that probably wasn't going to happen either. James had done everything he'd been told, but he knew there was no way these people were going to let him and his children go unless he thought of a plan.

"Okay, Pops, times up." One of the guards behind him clicked off the screen before he could even say goodbye, and grabbed his arm to pull him up.

The guard gave James the balaclava to put on, and when he did he did it slowly as possible, barely letting it touch his scarred, scabbed and bleeding skin until he had to set it down. He groaned as some of the wool caught on a cut below his eye and he pulled the threads away, sticking to the blood and skin.

He sighed. There was a reason he was so cliché as the bad guy; he was an actor. The only thing he knew of acting the villain was from what he'd seen in movies and on TV. He called himself Pain in a feeble attempt at getting the heroes to figure it out and realise _he_ was the one in pain, _he _had a cell, too. He was kind of unimpressed with them for not figuring it out.

But if he did a bad job- if he faltered for even a second, if he sounded _too_ obvious- he was tortured. They had scarred his face and body so much he was almost unrecognisable as James Black anymore, and that was why he had to wear the balaclava and gloves, no skin showing at all, so the heroes wouldn't see that it wasn't just them having a hard time, and also because it gave less of his emotions away.

The more successful torturing he did the more food his children would get. He was torn between being relieved and disgusted when he had to torture someone. Especially since most of them he had looked up to since he was a kid. He dreaded the day when he had to torture Captain America.

He let himself be dragged to his cell, where the script was waiting for him on his poor excuse for a bed.

*********Alex Rider's POV**********

Alex was only half-aware of his surroundings; the pain radiated from his very core, agony everywhere. But he was aware enough to hear voices, scuffling and see two people thrown into the cell. One small looking kid and a grown man.

Bruce, he noticed, seem to know them.

"Dick, Clark!" Bruce stepped towards them and checked them over for injuries.

"Bruce!" the child hugged Bruce, tight, grinning ear to ear. "We thought you were... You know."

Bruce ignored that statement. "Dick, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine, but what about you?! You've been gone for ages!"

"How long?" Bruce asked; they'd all lost track of time long ago.

"About two weeks, give or take a day."

Alex grinned. "Hey, I'm fifteen now."

"Ha. Happy Birthday." Tony smirked. "So who are you two?"

"Dick Grayson."

"Clark Kent."

The men who had brought the two of them to the cell laughed. "AKA Robin, as in Batman and Robin, and Superman. Oh, yeah, I wouldn't try breaking out if I were you, Superman; the cell has little bits of Kryptonite in the walls." They laughed again and walked off.

There was a somewhat awkward silence, in which Bruce, Dick and Clark sat down in the middle of the floor, the wall space taken up by the other occupants of the cell. It really was getting quite cramped in there.

"Soooo... Batman, Robin, Superman, Hellboy, Captain America, Iron Man, 4 SAS soldiers, a teenage spy and me, Spider-Man, and we can't get out of a cell made by normal humans. This is fun." Pete said sarcastically. "So, how did they get you two?" He asked Dick and Clark.

"They used a massive chunk of Kryptonite on Superman and they surrounded me from all sides with tasers. Sorry, Bruce." He looked up apologetically at Bruce, who shook his head.

"Just watch yourself next time. Did you spot any escape routes?"

"I've memorised the way out (left, second door on the right, left again, third door on the left, straight on until the ladder, then up it) but can't find any ways to get out of the cell."

They fell silent after that, the only sounds being Alex's raspy breath and occasional stifled whimpers for when he moved just a tad too much. He held the cloth to his stitches, which were absolute agony. The salt stung like a million little spider bites, constantly biting and stinging and hurting.

It hurt so much he didn't want to move at all. But, he was not in a comfortable position; he was propped up on one elbow, his head lolling to the side. And he was tired.

Alex sighed and slowly began adjusting himself. First, he used his other hand, the one without a hole in, to hold himself up while he removed his other arm from under him. This in itself was agony, and he suppressed at least a couple of groans.

Alex then rolled over onto his back and scrunched up his face in pain as his stitches stretched slightly, not to mention the other injuries.

"Alex, you know, you could just ask for help." He heard Bruce's voice from somewhere to his right.

"No, I don't need help; I'm fine." Alex said stubbornly, except his voice cracked halfway through so it sort of lost its touch.

"Whatever you say." Bruce's reply was ignored by Alex, as he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

**************Bruce's POV**************

Great. Robin and Superman were here, as well. Strategically speaking, they had basically the same chance of escaping than they had before; there were two less looking for them on the outside, but two more people to think of a way out.

Bruce noticed Dick kept glancing at Alex and the pool of blood nearby his apparently sleeping figure. Bruce was monitoring Alex's breathing, which was raspy and shallow.

"Wait a second," Clark said suddenly. "Peter, did you say teenage spy? Everyone else is accounted for, except Alex. He's a spy?"

"Yes, I'm a spy." Alex said, opening one eye to look at Superman. "Not by choice, though, I'm not _completely_ crazy." He smirked as he shut his eye again.

"What do you mean, 'not by choice'?" Dick asked, confused. Alex just shook his head and waved an arm; Bruce could tell he was knackered, so he quietly told Dick and Clark Alex's situation. When he was finished Clark was staring at the floor in disgust and deep thought, and Dick was looking at Alex, frowning.

Dick was about to say something when they heard footsteps in the corridor. Alex heard them, too. His eyes shot open and he began sitting up, only to grimace and lean on his elbow.

Pain appeared, and two of his men. Their guns were pointed at Alex again, so no one was tempted to move. This time, though, they approached Tony and pulled him up by his arms. Tony winced when his legs touched the floor. "Woah, guys watch it! Got major pins and needles."

"Shut up!" one of the men growled, giving a rough punch to the billionaire's face. Tony smirked slightly, evidently pleased he'd annoyed them, but kept his mouth shut.

They put him into the chair and tied his arms and legs to it. Pain snapped his fingers and one of the men behind him walked forward, holding a tub of something. Bruce could smell faintly it was gasoline. Damn.

**************Tony Stark's POV***************

"Okay, before we do this, I have a little something else planned." Pain, again, snapped his fingers and one of the men walked off into the corridor. He returned a few minutes later with a television and a video camera on a table. Pain grinned, grabbed the camera and turned it on.

He videoed Tony and the TV was turned on. The screen was split into four sections: The first screen showed the four Avengers that weren't in the cell: Thor, Natasha, Clint, Bruce and also Nick. The second screen showed the un-captured Justice League founders. Third was MI6, Alan Blunt and Mrs Jones; Tony recognized the man and woman from times they'd met before, both pre and post Iron Man. The final quarter showed the BPRD, again he recognised them: Abe Sapien, that fire girl, Liz, the smokey robot guy and he couldn't recall the names of the others, the normal humans.

"Hello, friends! Are you missing something?" Pain turned the camera around to show the people on screen the cell with their heroes in it.

"Man of Iron! Captain! Are you injured?" Thor asked loudly.

They both said no and Pain brought the camera round to Alex.

"This kid, oh, this kid! He's amazing. Get this, he's a spy! He's a spy for MI6, and guess how old he is! Fourteen."

"No." Alex said smoothly. "I'm not. I'm fifteen." He gave Pain a 'duh' look and rolled his eyes.

"Only speak when spoken to, Alex."

"Alex! What happened?" Mrs Jones asked, and unless Tony was mistaken he heard something like concern in her voice.

Alex opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Wonder Woman. "Bruce, Clark, Dick!" That was all she said, and Tony wondered whether that was actually necessary or she just wanted to make her voice heard.

"Red! God, are you okay?" Liz asked Hellboy.

"I'm fine," Hellboy stood up, smiling at the camera for Liz. "Are my cats okay?"

Liz smirked, concern still etched in her face. "They're fine, I've been feeding them. The twins are also fine, thanks for asking about them."

"Oh, yeah, how are-?" Pain interrupted Hellboy with a cough.

"Anyway, yes. Today, Alex's going to die. Your heroes are here until we can sell them, but we haven't got any really good offers yet, except Mister Stark here and Alex, and we were wondering if you'd like to simply buy them, instead. I'm showing you this now because this will be what happens to your other heroes if they are not sold."

He gave Tony a random punch in the chest, above the arc reactor. Tony refused to give Pain the satisfaction by flinching.

"You can either be selfish about it and just buy your own people, or you can buy the whole bunch. It's all about the money, you see, I don't care where they go or what happens to them after that but I want money for them.

"For Tony, there's been an alliance. Justin Hammer and leader of the Ten Rings, Raza, I believe. Hammer had the money and Raza had some interesting nuggets of information about Tony. Fear of water, for example." Tony paled. Raza and Hammer? Hammer was supposed to be in prison! Raza knew about everything that had happened in Afhanistan, he knew every single one of his phobias, minus only a few. Tony was amazingly, incredibly, utterly screwed. "And foreign languages."

Tony stiffened when Pain spoke next. In Hungarian. He didn't understand it, but it was sickeningly similar to the Hungarians in Afghanistan. Memories flashed through his head, the water filling his lungs, Yinsen laying full of bullet holes, bleeding out, the gunshots ringing out through the suit, waking up to agony and finding his chest being cut open, heart visible in the blood. _Stop it,_ he thought. _He's just speaking another language, block it out, block it out, block it out._

Pain watched Tony's reaction intently, nodding contentedly when Tony tried to hide his fear. The man with the tub responded to yet another infuriating snap of Pain's fingers and gave the tub to him. Pain nodded and the man went back to his place in the line of four men at the back of the corridor.

Pain poured the clear liquid over Tony's feet, up to his shins, and it was obvious then that it was gasoline.

"I have never, and will never, look forward to something so much in my entire life." Pain said, laughing. "Have fun, everyone!"

He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit it.

Oh, crap. Oh, crap, oh, crap, oh crap.

Pain edged the flame closer and closer to Tony's feet, so close that he could actually feel the heat.

Then his feet caught fire. The fire spread quickly and his skin bubbled and blistered, smoke rising up and almost blocking Tony's view. The pain was indescribable. He couldn't keep himself from screaming at the top of his lungs as the agonising flames licked at his knees. Tony writhed and squirmed, desperately trying to escape the vicious heat, he pulled at the cuffs on his wrists, but that only resulted in bloody marks from the metal.

He screamed until his voice was hoarse, then he screamed some more. His thoughts narrowed to just the flame and the heat and the _burning_, he barely even noticed the sickening smell of burning flesh.

It felt like hours and hours he was like that, but really it was less than a minute. As soon as Pain saw the fire spreading to above his knees he poured a freezing bucket of water over them, making a hissing sound and causing something between relief and more pain for Tony.

The billionaire was left panting and coughing at the smoke and the agony. Pain then smiled and stomped down, hard, on one of Tony's feet. His eyes watered as he tried to keep from crying out, but he blinked furiously to keep the tears from falling.

He took a few deep breaths, nearly choking on the smoke, but he eventually got his breath back. His feet were numb. He tried to wiggle his toes and was delighted to find that he could, but he regretted the little experiment when agony shot through his legs.

After grimacing he glanced up at Pain, and was shocked to see something akin to- was it pity? Fear? Regret?- In his eyes. But it was gone before Tony could blink, replaced by a grin.

Pain reached into his jacket and suddenly there was a knife in his hand, huge, shiny, and sharp. The blade reached Tony's waistband, pointing upwards towards his neck. Pain placed it above his belly button and pressed down until it pierced Tony's skin through the green jumper he wore. The only reaction Tony allowed himself to show was the tightening of his grip on the chair's arms, and he gritted his teeth.

Pain dug the knife deeper into Tony, about two inches in, and he pulled it upwards towards the arc reactor. He glanced down and saw both the jumper and his flesh opening like a zip, blood pouring out and pooling on his lap and running down his burnt legs.

"Guh..." he moaned involuntarily when the knife reached the scars from his past palladium poisoning. Pain's gaze flickered to his face, and again Tony saw a flicker of something that looked like regret. When Tony frowned, his mind foggy with the pain, Pain took a small breath and dug the knife slightly deeper. Tony's body went against him and pushed itself back against the chair.

Pain reached the metal surrounding the arc reactor, and he pulled the knife out slowly. Tony released an agonised breath he didn't know he was holding and slumped in the chair, all except for his head, which he kept straight on his shoulders. To his dismay, Pain placed the knife back in his body, above the arc reactor this time after he cut through the shirt on top of it.

Fricking all that just to take his damn shirt off. The knife reached his collar bone and the top of the shirt and Pain pulled the two parts of the ugly wool apart, smiling slightly as he heard the sickening sound of the material unsticking from the long wound on his front.

Tony grimaced and held his eyes open. _I will not pass out_, he told himself firmly. No way. Pain had kept the knife in, under his chin while the maniac did whatever the hell he was doing. He couldn't look down to see or he'd cut his chin open on top of it all.

He could see Pain, but not his hands. He couldn't feel anything, until Pain touched the wound. He had a steely expression, as though he were forcing himself to do it, rather than his usual grin.

Pain grabbed a hold of the side of the cut with his hand, and slid the other inside the gap. Not deep, just enough for Tony to writhe in agony and scream. Black dots danced across his vision as Pain's hand clenched into a fist, but he blinked and shook his head frantically. Even in that amount of pain, Tony willed himself to stay conscious.

"STOP!"

Tony vaguely heard a yell, and Pain yanked his hand out, then pulled the knife out so Tony could let his head slump forwards. He breathed heavily, and he highly doubted that he would stay in the chair if there were not chains holding him to it.

The voice belonged to none other than Nick Fury. The others had been yelling at Pain the whole time, but neither Tony, Pain nor the guards had taken any notice, but of course Nick could yell louder than anyone, including Tony's screaming.

"Yes?" Pain asked, hands dripping Tony's blood.

"Stop it."

"Or what?"

"Or I will."

"You can't stop me; You can't even trace the video's signature!"

Well, that was a queer thing to say, Tony thought. How would he know? Unless he's infiltrated SHIELD or he was just overly confident. But what criminal would give away something that could potentially ruin everything, no matter how obvious that solution might be.

Even in Tony's state that was weird of him to say. Clumsy. Or maybe it was something else? Maybe he hadn't imagined the looks Pain had had in his eyes those times.

Before he could surmise to anything, however, Pain turned round to face him again. His bloody hands went straight to the arc reactor, and Tony's heart skipped a beat. "No!" Someone in the cell yelled. Probably Cap. "Don't!" Everyone but Tony's teammates were confused. None of them knew what the reactor did, how it kept him alive, except maybe Dick and Bruce (Wayne).

Pain twisted the reactor this way and that, each time sending pain through Tony's body. "Don't," Tony muttered, just to see the reaction from Pain. Honestly, he wasn't worried about the reactor being taken out. Chances were they'd put it back in again, and if not he'd just die. And that's what people _do_!

Pain glanced at Tony's face, but this time there was no emotion. None at all.

**HAHA CLIFFHANGER MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

**Actually planned to make it longer but now it's three in the morning so huhuh nope. If you found the quote review or PM I don't care, but next chapter will be dedicated to you! I'll give you a hint: IT'S FROM SHERLOCK.**

**Hope you liked, and hope you forgive me for the awful wait!**

**REVIEW AND I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER!**

**Oh yes and I'm gonna change the category to Avengers instead of Alex Rider because it's not really at all about him any more 'cos I've gone off him a bit (a lot) but don't worry I ain't gonna kill him of or nothing, and he's still in it and stuff :P**


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